Swimming pools are a common feature for many residential and commercial properties. Since some people do not live near an ocean, river, or other large body of water, a swimming pool allows for recreational fun and aquatic exercises in areas that would not have it by natural means. In other instances, swimming pools provide a more controlled environment for people to enjoy the activity of swimming. Many people also enjoy swimming pools because they can be conveniently accessed.
The immediate area surrounding the pool can become wet as a result of the splashing and/or people entering or leaving the pool. Therefore, the area around the pool must have proper drainage so that the surrounding area can be kept as dry as possible, and to prevent water buildup and/or intrusion into adjacent structures. Rain water can also collect on the immediate area surrounding the pool and it is undesirable for the pool deck to remain wet, or to have standing water on the pool deck. Further, when there may be heavy rains, pools may overflow, causing water to collect on the pool deck.
Most pools include deck drains installed at an offset distance between a perimeter of the pool and an adjacent structure to assist in draining the area surrounding the pool so that water does not collect adjacent to the structure and, if too much water is allowed to collect, cause water intrusion into the structure. The deck drain is designed to provide a path of drainage for standing water between the pool and any adjacent structure. The water that is displaced from the pool is allowed to flow back into the pool or into a secondary drainage area via a drainage system that connects to the deck drain.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,792,723 to Stegmeier, Sr. et al. (hereafter referred to as Stegmeier) discloses a deck drain. The deck drain of Stegmeier includes a plurality of slots that drain the water from the platform that surrounds the pool. However, the deck drain disclosed in Stegmeier can be readily clogged, and does not provide access within the drain to facilitate easy cleaning.
Deck drains with a removable top are available from Aquamasters USA http://www.aquamasters.com/frontierremovabetopdrain.htm. The deck drain provided by Aquamasters includes a bottom portion and a top portion. The top portion, referred to as the cap, includes a pair of lips that extend from the bottom of the cap. The lips extend the longitudinal length of the deck drain and fit into the deck drain by snapping into place, matingly engaging the top of the bottom portion of the Aquamasters deck drain. The Aquamasters deck drain does not enable a user to partially remove a top portion or cap of the deck drain. Instead, the Aquamasters deck drain is made to replace an entire drain, and is not suitable for retrofitting an existing drain. Accordingly, installation cost of the Aquamasters deck drain may be high.
A need exists for a deck drain that provides a top portion that is partially removable. This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.